Coined in Japan in the late '90s, "Moe" (萌え, pronounced as "Mo-Eh", derived from a Japanese word that means "budding, to sprout/bloom")note 燃え, also pronounced "moe", is a different word meaning "to burn" or "passion". This is a source of puns. is an ill-defined otaku term that means, amongst other things, "cute", "huggable", or "endearing". While it's sometimes used to describe a series or the phenomenon called Perverse Sexual Lust, it's more about a specific ideal or kind of character, similar to Kawaisa. When used as an interjection, figuratively, it's used to convey that "something blooms inside your heart".

A common definition is that Moe is the ability of a character to instill in the audience an irrational desire to adore them, hug them, protect them, comfort them, etc. To evoke a sort of Big Brother Instinct, in men and women.

Their personality will reflect an "innocent" outlook on something vital, such as about romance. A related implication is that moe characters are virgins, though mostly in Japan, where virginity and purity still remains important to a girl's appeal.

If a character is plain, they are "loudly plain" in the way Hollywood Homely characters are "ugly"; sometimes they're just more moderate than the rest of the cast, and the writers implicitly suggest the audience is kind for liking the character for being plain.

More on these traits can be found here, although trying to define the exact nature of "what is Moe" is still up to debate.

Such characters are also prone to being used as mere Pandering to the Base. When a character has no visible personality traits aside from vaguely cute uselessness, he/she is termed the dreaded "Moe Blob". An interesting result of this is some moe characters are quasi-Animated Actors; the series they star in need not be related at all, being only devices to enable the viewer to enjoy the character. Many of them feature in Gag Series, and only the merchandise for the series shows off its possibly-intended roots, though quite a few merchandise producers use heavy amounts of artistic liberty when designing products.

Also, do note that the Moe aesthetic in itself is generally not considered to be a sexual thing. Saying otherwise will hit the Fandom Berserk Button. That is not to say, of course, that Moe characters can never be sexually attractive, and indeed someaesthetics may deliberately blur the line.

Male characters can also have moe traits, and they figure prominently in Shoujo and Josei. Like their female counterparts, moe boys are usually ridiculously cute. The Adorably Precocious Child is a good example. Bishōnen characters (particularly Troubled, but Cute characters) also tend to evoke feelings of Moe in a female audience and are frequently called Moe by both fans and authors.

The original version of Marrina from Alpha Flight was absolutely made of this, at least as long as she was in control of herself. Unfortunately, outside forces kept pulling out her Super-Powered Evil Side, making her good half seem just that much more tragic and, well, moe.

Inside Out: All five of the emotions are this is some way, but Sadness tends to be the biggest example out of all of them thanks to her quiet Eeyore-like personality, large glasses, and her short stocky appearance in general.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White, the original princess, was arguably the start of this in western animation and her cuteness is purposefully emphasized nowadays in contrast to some of the most elegant or tough princesses.

Wreck-It Ralph: Vanellope von Schweetz is the most adorable character in the movie and also the most abused, whose living conditions were even worse than Ralph's. She is essentially a Dummied Out character in her home game, which is horrifyingly tragic if such a character were sentient. Some of the story team members even grew protective of her.

Film - Live Action

Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings. More so than the book, in which he seems slightly more composed and more mature than his younger Hobbit friends, film Frodo is every bit the doe-eyed, plucky little-train-that-could. Whenever action goes down, even the other Hobbits manage to get some licks in. But not our Frodo, who whimpers and faints and plays the Ill Boy throughout. He's so in over his head it's absurd... which is what makes his pluck all the more moving. It's just a damn good job Sam went with him...

David Bowie's character from The Man Who Fell to Earth is a fragile, if stoic, alien who proves highly, tragically vulnerable to the pitfalls of the human world. In his human disguise, he's one of the older examples of this trope (his true form is that of a Rubber-Forehead Alien). It's telling that Bowie fangirls usually refer to Thomas Jerome Newton via his in-story nickname of "Tommy".

Chekov, from the 2009 Star Trek movie. He's developed quite the female following.

He's practically a live-action anime character with his enormous greenish-blue eyes; no wonder he's a Moe! That and his positively adorable accent (especially when the computer acts like a bitch to him).

"I can do zat! I can do zat!"

Little Nancy in Sin City the movie. She is a lot cuter when seen in full color light in the bonus DVD features than in the black and white of the movie.

Both used straight and subverted when Wednesday Addams turns on the charm at summer camp in Addams Family Values. In just a few moments she blossoms from her usual drawn and dour self into a charming doe eyed lovable little girl.

The other children are visibly shocked. One remarks "she's scaring me!"

Child!Hanuman/Maruti from The Return of Hanuman. Big girly eyes, cheeks, innocence, he's just so adorable.

Bumblebee fills this, despite being a mechanical life form. Due to being the most humanoid of the robot cast, his movements moddelled after Marty McFly, the fact his horns are replaced with little bug antenas, he's given Prowl's door wings which act like dog ears, and his childlike enthusiasm at times. There's a reason many cried when he was injured in the first film and when it looks like he's about to be executed by Soundwave in the third. Possibly lampshading this, Laserbeak uses his aparent ability to change into anything to become a human child sized pink version of him to trick a small girl into letting him inside so he can kill her family.

Carly in the third film also acts as this, due to being more emotional than Megan Fox's character Mikeala in the first film and more playful.

Chucky from Child's Play. Yes, he is a psychotic mass murderer, but he just looks so adorable in his doll body.

Ringo Starr guessed that his fanbase in the 60s consisted mainly of girls who wanted to mother him. He was absolutely right.

In-universe example. In the Bon Jovi song, "Superman Tonight," Jon sings about a girl he wants to rescue...THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW.

Sally Shapiro

Jazz vocalist and pianist Blossom Dearie had this as a big part of her appeal, often described as having a girlish appearance and an innocent "baby-doll" voice. Case in point: her famous cover of "Someone To Watch Over Me." (Is a more Moe name than "Blossom Dearie" even possible?)

Ben Howard has been known to have this effect on some.

Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy has always had this effect on people to the point where even Pete Wentz has joked about it.

Pete: patrick doesnt do gross things. his body is made up of kittens, saturdays, 70 degree weather, first kisses and butterflies. trust me, i cut that bitch open once to check.

It's Bayley! Genki Girl, check, Adorkable, check, weaponized glomper, check, one of the most "wholesome" Divas on WWE programming, check. Her opening even features a drawing of her as an anime character!

Something about you makes people pity you and want to take care of you. You get + 3 on all reaction rolls from those who consider you to be in a position of helplessness, weakness, or need (which never includes those with the Callous disadvantage). Taken in conjunction with above-average looks, Pitiable means you are "cute" instead of "sexy"; in combination with below-average looks, it means you are "appealingly homely," like a basset hound.

The Collectible Card Game Weiss Schwarz uses moe as its primary selling point, allowing moe stalwarts such as the Lucky Star and Clannad casts to wage bloody moe battle against each other.

Shiki from Tsukihime tends to have a love of moe traits among the girls in the games. The doujins take this to whole new levels, creating his infamous line "So moe...I'm gonna die~!"

The female cast of the game are all quite moe; some just more than others.

Akiha, Arcueid, Hisui, Satsuki, and Len; arguably the most moe characters out of the lot.

The girls of Katawa Shoujo, who are all Disabled Love Interests who each have some moe traits, but Shrinking Violet Hanako probably takes the cake. However, it's worth noting that despite fandom's treatment of Hanako as moe, her route in the game actually deconstructs the concept. Hanako becomes well aware that Hisao feels sorry for her and sees her as The Woobie, and she greatly resents it. In her Bad End, she calls Hisao out on this, yelling that she hates him for this behaviour. With the way she's facing the screen, however, it doesn't seem that she's yelling at Hisao so much as she's yelling atthe player. In her H-scene, the reason she has sex with Hisao in the first place is so that he'll stop seeing her as someone to be pitied and protected.

Really, any of your female companions fall into this in some way. Maya with her childish naivete, Pearl's innocent ignorance of the world outside Kurain Village (and just being the one little girl in general), and Trucy Wright just all around. Even Kay Faraday, Genki Girl as she is, gets in on it sometimes with her charming ambition. It helps that all these characters have Woobie backgrounds.

The elves of ElfQuest are deliberately Moe, particularly Suntop (later renamed Sunstream in-universe) who is practically the Ur Example. Around age 5 or 6, he had to endure being kidnapped by Winnowill, the only truly evil elf known and magically hurt in order to keep him from struggling. Then as a 7yo (guesstimated), he had to endure 2-3 days of sleeplessness because of constantly "hearing" telepathic screaming of other elves from some unknown place. If it weren't for sympathetic parents and an understanding mentor, he could have literally turned out an insanely evil being instead of godlike good.

Speaking of Kimiko...Masha Kinoko. Using the power of moe, she single-handedly melted any objection towards the introductions of original characters in the series and was considered too adorable to become the final boss of the series, which was her intended role in the story at the time of her introduction.

(Touhou Nekoyayou #50: A Maid's Work)

Tewi Inonymous: The unforgivable sin of fan works is original characters. DUH!

You know what? Skip individual descriptions, all the kids, and ALL the trolls can count as Moe at one point, for a ludicrous plethora of reasons. Which makes the three trolls who are now hated and feared an especially interesting character study...

Cuanta Vida has Anton, the panicky Mega Nekko medic. The CV fandom is usually ridiculously protective of the two main characters, so it really says something that Anton was immediately forgiven for working with Rojo to kidnap Bleu.

Drowtales has Faen'arae Val'Sullisin'rune. While she may be older than the typical Moe character, she has the advantage of actually being a Drow whose age-equivalent in Human Terms would only be in the late Teens, Early Tweenties. This character has the drawback of being able to feel the emotions of others and frequently will go into what is termed "Empathic Shock" due to highly stressful emotions. She also suffers from severe PTSD. All that said, she is also one of the most endearing characters in the series.

Oh and Kyo'nne Val'Illhar'dro may also count... depending on whom you ask. Not to mention Naal'suul Val'Beldrobbaen would have counted Prior to being turned into a Demon.

The Nostalgia Critic. Those huge, pretty eyes, his actor's gleeful catering to the fangirls and the fact that he looks like a kid playing grown-up (andtendstosuckatit) in that messy suit adds a lot to his appeal.

Oancitizen, from Brows Held High; chubby face, fluffy facial hair, lovably snobby, cries almost as much as the Critic and has a soothing, Stephen Fry-esque voice.

Donnie DuPre from Demo Reel goes straight to the bedroom eyes to convince his co-workers to do anything, manages to be a complete Dude Magnet, is weak, femmy and very rarely raises his voice, has a horrible past (and present!) and nobody can resist looking after him.

Rebecca Stone. Her actress was delighted that Doug was the only guy to give her a Badass Adorable role, and while she's plenty ass-kicking feminist, she's also got an adorable giggle, has a stoner past and says whatever comes into her brain first.

while we're on this subject, San too who was in pretty much the same situation as Melissa but wasn't shy or withdrawn but so socially awkward that most people avoided her.

Lily Pichu, a Gamer Chick that hosts her own channel doing escapades playing League of Legends and occasionally accompanies them with cute non-professional drawing in moe style. Just listen to her voice and try not to have a HNNNNNGGG. Of course, sometimes she subverts it that she also a bit foul-mouthed, letting out Precision F-Strike time to time, but it's also worth noting that she admits that the Moe voice is totally original and not made-up. She's also pretty personable and can be hilarious when she wants to.

About the best way to describe why Hailey Solomanari of Kakos Industries is so well liked among fans. Even with only her voice to convey her character, she's so damn naive and bubbly it's borderline infectious. She's especially this compared to the other characters who tend to carry a more obvious sense of intimidation while she keeps her own Evil capabilities under a pretty pink gauze of innocence which makes her both incredibly "moe" with plenty of Cute and Psycho to boot.

The character named Moe in No Boys Dorm. With her bubbly personality, love of the color pink, enthusiasm for just about everything, and tendency to actually sparkle, she definitely fits the description.

Idols Of Anime episode 14 discusses the rise of Moe in anime during the mid-2000s.

Ruby Rose is a bubbly and geeky 15-year-old monster slayer in-training who wants to be a hero because her Cool Big Sis Yang read a lot of old fantasy stories to her as a little kid.

Yang as a little kid would qualify, with her pigtails and brave Determinator attitude.

Penny Polendina is a... strange but very cheerful young girl who is also capable of carving through an entire army of terrorists with a cute little smile on her face.

Standing at 4'9'', Neopolitan is the shortest girl in the cast, and rarely seen without her Parasol of Pain. That is, when she's not stabby Nightmare Fuel who nearly murdered both Ruby and Yang on separate occasions.

Yugi: Have you seen my face?! Seriously, I'm so cute, people have mistaken me for a baby panda! One whimper outta me and he'll be the Joey we know and love again.

Yami: You mean you're not a baby panda?

Yugi: Nope.

Yami:Wow, you're good!

Western Animation

Steven Universe: BEHOLD; the biggest example of this in American animation - Steven, an all-loving, energetic kid hero with empathy for everyone, even jerks, villains, and monsters. He's a younger brother figure for the Gems and the older audience.

Betty Boop: Betty may well have been the original progenitor of the animated Moe character. The target audience of her cartoons was adult men rather than children, and she made popular the large eyes and other child-like facial features that are common on a lot of modern Moes. Also, she was voiced by Mae Questel, who at the time was very popular due to her cutesy voice.

W.I.T.C.H.: Adorably ditzy Magical Girl Hay Lin. Aside from Rei, one struggles to find a character who fits it so perfectly. If she's not being suggestive and adorable, she's being even more adorable and frightened, she's a slender little thing with a nice chest when she transforms but Pettanko leanings when a normal person. All she needs is blue hair and some bandages and she could be Rei's (much more chipper) sister.

Zuko, especially during the episode "The Western Air Temple" where he tries to join Team Avatar and it doesn't go so well at first, resulting in him yelling, "Why am I so bad at being good!" There's also the fact that his temper stems more from him being the Woobie than him being a jerkass for the most part, and he can be very socially awkward.

The Legend of Korra: Opal with her big eyes, sweet demeanor, and awkward first impression toward Team Avatar (especially Bolin) makes her absolutely adorable.

Come on...if you were Leela, you know you'd date Fry in a second. None of that pussyfooting around. It's all his heart, and the fact that he is so very, very, very lonely, being the oldest human in the world by a very long shot. Plus, he's nice to people who don't give a rat's ass about him, for no good reason at all. What's there not to like? Intelligence? Overrated! In fact, he's most adorable in his good-hearted loopiness.

Leela. How can you not hear orphanage stories and not want to give her a hug? One eye or two, who cares?

Kif. With the big head, large eyes, small nose, girlish voice and the borderline Woobieness, he's downright adorable!

The former is the show's most sensitive, sweet and gentle of the cast and the latter is a cuddly snake with attitude and a hidden soft side; they're also a couple of Cute Bruisers when the plot calls for it.

Skywarp is a Dirty Coward cloned from Starscream. The fans think he's adorable (maybe it's the constant fear combined with the likelyhood that he's the one who gets picked on the most that contributes to the Woobieness).

Miss Grotke is a rare over 18 example of the trope. Personality speaking, she's like a misplaced Disney Princess. Sadly, a lot of her moe-ness is taken out of most dubs, where her cute, high-pitched voice is usually replaced with a lower, more boring one.

The main six when they were in kindergarten were just adorable as well.

This version of The Wasp, due to being the character with the most change from the comics. Her general appearence is adorable, her personality is hilarious, and her ability to Cherry Tap opponents into surrender adds to that. There's a reason she's the Ensemble Dark Horse of the group.

Muppet Babies: Baby Beaker◊. Good golly! While all the baby versions of the Muppets are pretty adorable, between Baby Beaker's over-sized pajamas, mop-top hair, and higher-pitched meeping, he is about the cutest and most huggable out of all of them.

Touhou actually averts this for the most part, since despite 98% of the cast being cute girls wearing some kind of frilly clothing very few of the characters really have any stereotypically moe personalities (and it's not like any of them need to be protected anyway). It's still pretty easy to think it's a moe series, though, since fans are very fond of emphasizing moe traits whether the characters in question have any or not. Some details in the guidebooks have actually subverted the moe treatment some characters got (i.e. Hina is not someone you want to spend time with because she leaks misfortune, Kisume is actually a Creepy Child, Nitori may or may not actually be racist against humans).

In Potion Maker, most notably the store staff, but applies to pretty much all characters. Including cats.

When EA realized that The Sims wasn't selling so well in Asia, they figured they needed a new series to appeal to people in that area. In order to do this, they decided to take said game and add a thick coat of pure, Super-Deformed, Animesque, family-friendly Moe to it. What did they get? My Sims.

There's actually a whole VN genre for so-called "moege". Da Capo and its spinoffs, SHUFFLE!, Snow Sakura and Canvas 2 are just some that this particular niche has to offer. Confusingly enough, there is also a different genre called "moege", the one relating to burn/passion; these titles are usually related to sports or hobbies one can be, well, passionate about and bond to each other over it. This difference was mentioned (and admitedly better explained) in Koe de Oshigoto!.

Speaking of Da Capo, remeber the character Moe above in the anime section? In the VN there's more to her than meets the eye, and it has to do with her unusual sleeping habits, if that alone is not Moe enough. She takes sleeping pills. Not because of insomnia, but due to a tragic incident in her childhood - there was a boy she liked, then one day he died. Overcome with grief, she made a wish to the magical Sakura Tree to see that boy in her dreams. Hence her need to sleep. Thus when the tree withers, she loses that wish, and just breaks down. Awwww

Cartoon Networkin general is this, really. Throughout it's history, this channel's been able to churn out a slew of cute cartoons (which may contribute to it's popularity, both in the States and in Japan).

The 1980's cartoon Hello Kitty's Furrytale Theater. No, it's not an anime. Tara Strong, the mistress of cute characters, started as Kitty on this show when she was 13.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Due to the general art style, characters have varying degrees of this, but it's probably the most pronounced in Fluttershy. Outside of the main cast, there's Coco Pommel, whose popularity is almost entirely due to how endearing she is...And the show itself is largely about ponies learning to be better friends to one another, teaching lessons that often apply to adults as well as children.

Moe is pretty much what Disney aims for. In every animated Disney movie, there is at least one character that qualifies. Just look under the folder for animated films above; almost every entry is a Disney movie.

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